Headlines
'Destruction of Hatra a turning point in Iraq's cultural cleansing'
Paris, March 9
The destruction of the Hatra
Unesco World Heritage Site by the Islamic State (IS) has been described
as a "turning point in the strategic cleansing of cultural history of
Iraq" by the heads of cultural institutions, a statement said on Monday.
Islamic
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Isesco), along with
Unesco, condemned Islamic State's brutal act of vandalising cultural
heritage of Iraq by destroying and bulldozing several heritage sites.
In
a joint statement the directors of both these institutions said: "This
is a direct attack against the history of Islamic Arab cities and it
confirms the role of destruction of heritage in the propaganda of
extremists groups."
"The destruction of Hatra marks a turning
point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing underway in Iraq,"
said Irina Bokova, director general of Unesco and ISESCO's director
general, Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri in a statement.
The IS in the
recent weeks has been attacking ancient heritage sites in Iraq. First
it destructed artefacts at the Mosul Museum and then bulldozed the
ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud.
According to the statement,
Hatra, a large fortified city under the influence of the Parthian
Empire, was the capital of the first Arab kingdom, bearing the roots of
Islamic Arab cities.
"This latest act of barbarism against Hatra
shows the contempt in which it (IS) holds the history and heritage of
Arab people," said Bokova.